When is the ultrasound of the liver?

Modern techniques of ultrasound can help to accurately assess the size and shape of the liver, identify neoplasms in it, for example, cyst or liver cancer, assess the structure and density of the parenchyma in diffuse lesions, etc.

Recently, ultrasound is widely used as a method that helps to choose the best access for abdominal drainage, liver biopsy and other manipulations.

Ultrasound of the liver is considered to be a simple, inexpensive and fast method for examining the structure of this organ. There are several cases where ultrasound is performed:

• At occurrence of suspicions on many diseases of a liver (a cirrhosis of a liver, a hepatitis, etc.);
• With suspected benign or malignant tumors;
• With suspicions of an abscess in the liver or parasites (eg, echinococcosis);
• When injuring the abdominal cavity;
• To monitor the treatment of diseases.

At the same time, the preparation of a liver uzi is quite simple.

3 days before the day when the ultrasound of the liver is carried out, the patient should exclude from the supply of black bread, milk, vegetables and fruits, sweet juices and other products that contribute to the appearance of gases in the intestine. In meteorism, enzyme preparations (panzinorm, festal, etc.) and adsorbents (camomile infusion, activated charcoal, etc.) should be prescribed.

On the eve of the study, in the evening and just before the procedure in the morning, two cleansing enemas should be placed. However, this procedure is not considered mandatory if the patient does not have flatulence.

Before research it is necessary to remove ornaments, and also a part of clothes.

When ultrasound of the liver is carried out, it is required to lie down on the couch. To facilitate the procedure, a slightly heated gel is applied to the skin. Using a small hand-held sensor, which is carried through the body in different directions, the doctor scans the organs, the images of which appear on the monitor.

The study is done on the breath holding on inhalation, at this moment the liver is slightly lowered and becomes more accessible for visualization.

Thus, it becomes possible to visualize the left and right lobes of the liver, as well as other digestive organs.

When the ultrasound of the liver is performed, the doctor draws attention to large vessels (for example, the portal vein), to the uniformity of the liver structure, to small vessels, to the biliary tract, and also measures the size of the liver.

When carrying out ultrasound of the liver, decoding is of great importance.

In general, ultrasound is considered as an indicative way of diagnosing diseases, which is established not by the disease itself, but by those changes in the tissue of the organ that may well appear against the background of some disease. The totality of all the changes that are established during the ultrasound and the symptoms that are observed in the patient makes it possible, with a certain degree of certainty, to talk about the presence of any disease in the patient.

The ultrasound of the liver usually ends with a scan of the abdominal cavity to detect free fluid in it.

Ideally, the contours of the liver should be even and clear throughout the entire length.

Thus, for a good ultrasound picture of the liver is characterized by the presence of low-intensity, small, relatively far from each other echoes, between them echo-negative spaces remain.

Among the most common diffuse lesions of the liver include hepatitis (chronic and acute), liver cirrhosis and fatty dystrophy. The correct diagnosis when performing ultrasound of the liver is highly dependent on a large number of subjective and objective reasons. The first of them include the type of device, its resolving power, sensitivity, the presence of certain factors that degrade the image (gassing in the intestine, obesity, etc.). The professionalism of the specialist and the care in carrying out the research are of great importance.